By Helen Stec
A weakened stock market prompted Governor Dannel P. Malloy to order almost $103 million in budget cuts on Friday, including nearly $2.4 million from the University of Connecticut and approximately $1.4 million from the University of Connecticut Health Center.
Benjamin Barnes, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, said in theNorwich Bulletin that the lower-than-anticipated state income and corporate tax revenue from recent stock market losses necessitated the cutbacks.
UConn is facing cuts of $2,205,822 from its Operating Expenses budget and $191,447 from Next Generation Connecticut.
$1,243,471 is being cut from the Operating Expenses budget for the UConn Health Center, as well as $21,378 from the Area Health Education Center for Bridgeport and $125,000 from Bioscience Connecticut.
Earlier this year Gov. Malloy proposed a state budget providing $40 million less than the University requested. After widespread protest from UConn faculty and students, the General Assembly approved a budget that reduced the cuts to under $20 million.
Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, Brendan Sharkey, voiced his disappointment with Gov. Malloy’s cuts in a post on his Facebook page Friday night.
“I’m disappointed and certainly opposed to what appear to be cuts targeting some of the very areas we sought to protect in the budget,” Sharkey wrote.
UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said in an email that the University could not yet comment on the cuts as they wait for their Board of Trustees’ budget committee to go over the figures.
WHUS will continue to follow this story as it develops.